Bolcom: Briefly it Enters; Let Evening Come

Track Listings
1. Let Evening Come: Ailey, Baldwin, Floyd, Killens And Mayfield    
2. Let Evening Come: 'Tis Not That Dying Hurts Us So    
3. Let Evening Come: Interlude    
4. Let Evening Come: Let Evening Come    
5. Briefly It Enters: Who    
6. Briefly It Enters: The Clearing    
7. Briefly It Enters: Otherwise    
8. Briefly It Enters: February: Thinking Of Flowers    
9. Briefly It Enters: Twilight: After Haying    
10. Briefly It Enters: Man Eating    
11. Briefly It Enters: The Sick Wife    
12. Briefly It Enters: Peonies At Dusk    
13. Briefly It Enters: Briefly It Enters, And Briefly Speaks    
14. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: The Total Stranger In The Garden    
15. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: Love In The Thirties    
16. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: Thius King Of Orf    
17. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: Miracle Song    
18. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: Satisfaction    
19. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: Radical Sally    
20. Cabaret Songs Volume 4: Angels Are The Highest Form Of Virtue    
See all 25 tracks on this disc

Bolcom: Briefly it Enters; Let Evening Come, Music, William Bolcom, Joan Morris, Cynthia Raim, William Bolcom, Benita Valente, Michael Tree, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Classical Vocals, Vocal, Vocal Music
Bolcom: Briefly it Enters; Let Evening Come
Average customer rating: 2 out of 5 stars
  • Benita Valente is an amazing singer
  • If you're looking for good performances, look elsewhere.
 Bolcom: Briefly it Enters; Let Evening Come

Manufacturer: Centaur
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

GeneralGeneral | Bolcom, William | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:
  1. Cabaret Songs (Complete)

ASIN: B00005BI2Z
Release Date: 2001-04-24

Tracks:

  1. Let Evening Come: Ailey, Baldwin, Floyd, Killens And Mayfield
  2. Let Evening Come: 'Tis Not That Dying Hurts Us So
  3. Let Evening Come: Interlude
  4. Let Evening Come: Let Evening Come
  5. Briefly It Enters: Who
  6. Briefly It Enters: The Clearing
  7. Briefly It Enters: Otherwise
  8. Briefly It Enters: February: Thinking Of Flowers
  9. Briefly It Enters: Twilight: After Haying
  10. Briefly It Enters: Man Eating
  11. Briefly It Enters: The Sick Wife
  12. Briefly It Enters: Peonies At Dusk
  13. Briefly It Enters: Briefly It Enters, And Briefly Speaks
  14. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: The Total Stranger In The Garden
  15. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: Love In The Thirties
  16. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: Thius King Of Orf
  17. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: Miracle Song
  18. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: Satisfaction
  19. Cabaret Songs Volume 3: Radical Sally
  20. Cabaret Songs Volume 4: Angels Are The Highest Form Of Virtue
  21. Cabaret Songs Volume 4: Poet Pal Of Mine
  22. Cabaret Songs Volume 4: Can't Sleep
  23. Cabaret Songs Volume 4: At The Last Lousy Moments Of Love
  24. Cabaret Songs Volume 4: Lady Luck
  25. Cabaret Songs Volume 4: Blue

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Benita Valente is an amazing singer.......2004-10-12

Even though I have only been studying voice for a short time I can appreciate what an outstanding singer and performer Benita Valente is. I am in awe of her ability to create a dramatic yet sensitive vocal line. My favorite recording of her is Libby Larson's Songs From Letters. She is the wonderful thing about this CD!! I know that often one thinks of Dawn Upshaw, Kiri Te Kanawa, Renee Fleming, etc. as leaders of today's classical vocal recordings. After hearing Ms. Valente on any recordng she will be added to your list without hesitation.

1 out of 5 stars If you're looking for good performances, look elsewhere........2004-10-11

William Bolcom is an intriguing composer, and for years I have enjoyed listening to and performing certain of his vocal works. I recently discovered this recording on Amazon.com and was quite excited about hearing not only cycles with which I was unfamiliar, but the composer and his wife's performance of Vols. III and IV of Bolcom's Cabaret Songs.

"Briefly it Enters" is a work of genius, given a beautifully satisfying performance by Benita Valente. The songs are wonderful, and Valente's voice is in top form. She is complemented perfectly by Cynthia Raim, a pianist of the highest sensitivity.

I wish I could be as complimentary for the other two cycles contained on this disc. "Let Evening Come" is merely okay. The performers give it their all, but the songs are simply not up to snuff. The insertion of the solo viola in place of the second voice, however poignant it might be for the composer, is merely annoying.

The true disaster on this recording, however, is the Bolcom/Morris performance of the Cabaret Songs. Joan Morris has been a few years past her prime for several years now, and it seems that no one has the heart to tell her. She squeaks and squawks her way through these delightful songs, rendering them nearly unlistenable. Bolcom's piano playing has, over the past few years, become a distortion of what it once was. He seems to find it difficult to maintain a steady tempo, and pounds away at the instrument as if out for revenge. These are wonderful songs, songs that deserve to be heard and deserve much better performances than these.

The only other recording on the market of the Cabaret Songs is "Blue: The Complete Cabaret Songs by William Bolcom and Arnold Weinstein" by Soprano Michelle Murray and pianist David Murray, available on Amazon.com. Theirs is a truly musical, collaborative, and emotional performance of all 24 of the Cabaret Songs. I give their recording 5 stars. As of this writing, there are no other recordings of "Let Evening Come" or "Briefly it Enters," but that is probably for the best. Valente's recording of "Briefly it Enters" can stand on its own, and no one who ever hears "Let Evening Come" will ever want to hear it again.

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